Selvedge guide apparatus for fabrics



May 24, 1938. J. DUNGLER 25,118,375

SELVEDGE GUIDE APPARATUS FOR FABRICS Filed March 56. 1936 4 511 4 1 14 7r0/PA/f May 24, 1938. ,J, D N LE 2,118,375

SELVEDGE GUIDE APPARATUS FOR FABRICS Filed March 30. 1956 4 Sheets-Sheet 2 May 24-, 1938. J. DUNGLER 2,118,375

SELVEDQE GUIDE APPARATUS FOR FABRI CS Filed March 50. 1936 Y 4 Sheets-Sheet 3 filw SELVEDGE GUIDE APPARATUS FOR FABRICS Filed March 50. 1936 4 $heets-Sheet 4 BY v 4 TTOEA/E KS J. DUNGLER 2,118,375 I Patented May 24, 19 38 I I I UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE Julien Dungler, Thanh, France Application March 30, 1936, Serial No. 71,639 In France June 14, 1935 v 6 Claims. (CI. 26-67) The invention relates to selvedge guides for (b) High efiiciency is attained, inasmuch as textile fabrics in the open width, such guides beboth selvedge guides can co-operate to straighten ing used for example in dyeing and finishing mathe fabric, one by a pull on its selvedge and the 'chines, tenter frames, drying drums, calenders, other by a pushing action, to restore the fabric to singeing machines, machines for folding and normal path;

rolling fabrics, etc. (c) Simplicity of construction and functmn' It is known to provide two sets or heads of selrenders the guides practically indestructible and vedge guides at the feed end of such apparatus, ool-p one set controlling one selvedge of the fabric and (11) Given, that the rollers are always in conthe other controlling the other .selvedge as these tact with the fabric selvedge and exerc1se an un- 10 pass along through the machine, to keep the fabinterrupted pressure thereon, such fabric can ric in the straight path. Generally, each guide not be creased or wrinkled, as happens sometimes consists of rollers between. which the selvedge 'With apparatus which functions on the system of p roller separation. In known forms of the latter According to the present invention a mechani- System it is the contact of the moving fabric cal selvedge guide apparatusis provided in which which produces the rotation of the rollers, with the roller-carrying frame of each guiding head the result that their movement slackenswhen is pivotally mounted to move around an axis perthey separate as a result of the lateral deviation pendicular to the plane of the fabric and comof the fabric, and when the roller pair again come 9 p n combination, a vi n w ich h elinto operative contact with the latter the roller vedge 0f the fabri enga s, t us a qu an inertia which has to be overcome is apt to cause undulatory or 8 form, and a counterweight or creasing on delicate fabrics.

other m a s ti on the arry n (e) The action is not jerky, each movement frame an action opposed to the frictional effect being on th contrary progressive and t 9.5 Of e S v d 011 the device in Which t is gression corresponding to the speed of movement 5 gaged, in order to set up the guiding head ina of fabric deviation. State f eq b m Varying according to the These advantages, with others not particulareral displacement of the fabric, so that said fabric i d, ill b realized from the full description of causes, when a-lateral displacement occurs, a, th invention 'n w to be given, reference being tilting of the piv ted frame 50 a bring the had in the description to the drawings annexed30 guiding head-in a neutral position, the opposite h r i h thus drawin he f ri in into s pr p r Figure 1 is a view in front elevation of an impath, or still in case of a very pronounced deviaproved guiding head; tion of the fabric, to bring said first mentioned Figure 2 is a view in top plan; 5 guiding head in a position of repulsion. Figure 3 in an end view; In a preferred form of embodiment of the in- Figure 4 is a front elevation of a complete asvention the pivoting roller-carrying frame of senibly of the apparatus; I each guiding head is furnished with a fork dis- Figure 5 is a fragmentary view of the rear view posed preferably below the rollers, in which enin elevation, to an enlarged scale; gages the corresponding selvedge of the fabric, Figures 6, 'Z and 8 are schematic showings of the 40 and. of which the branches are curved and apparatus at various positions in its operation;

mounted in 511011 a manner that in P j i o 1 Figure 9 illustrates schematically a particular a perpendicular planeto that of the fabric their method of utilization'of the apparatus; curves are inwardly and in opposite directions Figure 10 shows a variation of detail in conand are secant, whilst in projection on a plane nection with the rollers; 45

parallel to that of the fabric they diverge from Figure 10a shows a detail of the construction their point of attachment on the frame. and mounting of the rollers of Figure 10.

Numerous advantages arise from this construc- Figure 11 is a front elevation similar-to that of tion and arrangement: Figure 1 showing a variation ofthe arrangement (a) The apparatus has a universal use asfor braking the oscillatory movement. I 50 suring, always with the maximum of efficiency, Figure 12 is an end view similar to that shown the guiding of all fabrics whatever may be their on Fig. 3 and illustrates a modification; and

, quality, thickness, speed of movement, tension, Figure 13 is a view in top plan of the said modior whatever the degree of stretching of the selfication. vedges, etc. I Each of the guiding heads comprises a frame 2, 55

articulated to move around an axis 3 of bearing members 2' of the said frame, and a fixed support I. To the frame 2 are fixed an axis IE on which is mounted to rotate freely a roller 3 and an axis it of a sleeve it" around which is freely engaged the upper projection 5 of a movable arm support 5 on which is mounted ,the axis of a roller t constantly pressed against the roller t by the influence of a spring a, which is anchored at one end to a lower projection 5 of the support 5 and at the other end to the frame 2. On the other side of the bearing members 2 the frame 2 carries a lever it with counterweight i when the head is in use, as shown in the drawings, for the guiding of a fabric 86 which moves vertically; for the guiding of a fabric in the horizontal or in an inclined plane the position of the counterweight should be changed as necessary, or it would be replaced by a spring attached to the" frame 2 and at a fixed point in the machine.

The arrangement on which the selvedge of the fabric comes (that is to say, which obliges the said selvedge to take a form more orless undulatory or S-shaped and to exercise thereon friction to a required degree) is constituted by a fork of which the branches i9, 29 are curved and mounted in such a manner that in vertical projection they diverge from their common point of attachment it on the frame 2 (Figures 1 and 3) whilst in horizontal projection (Figure 2) their curves are secant and inwardly in opposite directions.

It is this fork i9, 20 which regulates the inclination of the rollers during the movement of the fabric it. Obviously, such fork may-have more than two branches; it may have three, or more. 4

Normally, the rollers d, t, of each head A A are maintained at the limit or their lower position by the counterweight, i, that is to say their angle to the horizontal is at the maximum.

After having engaged the fabric it in the two heads, the distance between the latter is regulated. It is evident that in proportion as the heads A A approach each other, the extent to which the fabric engages between the roliers d, 8 increases. After passing the vertical plane of the axis of articulation, 3, the selvedge engages in the fork 89, 26. At this point in the operation the rollers depart from their lower limit position to draw progressively towards the horizontal position, this latter movement taking place in proportion as the engagement of the fabric in the fork increases.

In normal working conditions, the distance be? tween the heads A A is regulated to a point where these heads occupy a position sumciently near the horizontal without however quite reaching it (Figure 6).

Assuming that the fabric, moving downwardly in the vertical plane, moves towards the left of the drawing: The engagement of the selvedge L with the branches i d, 20 of the fork increases and, as these two branches approach each other progressively in the vertical plane whilst being secant in the horizontal plane, the effect of the embarrage (that is to say the accentuation of the undulatoryor- 8 form taken by the selvedge L and the increase of the frictional efiect exercised by such selvedge on the branches of the fork) is augmented in o. very high degree for a minimum displacement of the selvedge L. This effect changes the equilibrium of the apparatus and the head A approaches the horizontal position. Its

stretching efiect on the fabric thus lessens progressively to zero when the rollers of the head A have attained the horizontal position.

This lateral displacement of the fabric will have equally the efiect of withdrawing the selvedge L to a certain degree from the fork of the head A. As a result, on this side also there is a disturbance of the equilibrium but having an opposite reaction; thedownward inclination of the head A increases (Figure '7). There is thus a double ef feet; on the one hand a tendency towards the neutralization of one of the two heads, for examplc the head A, and on the other hand a progressive increase of the tractive effort of the other head A upon the fabric.

If the lateral deviation of the fabric continues to increase the head A will reach and if necessary will pass the horizontal position and will exercise in the latter event a. repulsive effect on the fabric 1%. This effect, in addition to the tractive effort of the head A which tends to move towards its lower pesition acts on the fabric with the highest eficiency (Figure 8). From the explanation given it will be clear that in each head there is set up a frictional effect of the fabric E6 on the branches i9, 29 of the fork, and by the opposing efiort of the counterweight l estate of equilibrium is set up which varies according to the lateral deviations or displacements of the said fabric.

' of the fabric. In fact, due to the superposing of the two bars of the fork, the friction of the fabric increases in such proportions that the apparatus sets itself in a position of repulsion (when this effect of repulsion is attained it is evident that the lateral displacement of the fabric is short) before the fabric has attained the point of junction of the two branches, all risk of nipping such fabric, which would impart sudden and brusque reactions to the apparatus, being avoided.

To permit of the pressure of roller 6 on roller d under-the action of the spring 8 being exercised not on a generating line of contact but at a point, and to permit of the regulation of position of this point according to the speed of movement of the fabric, one at least of the rollers, B for example, is provided with a peripheral surface which is slightly convex (in Figure 10 this convexity is exaggeratedfor clearness), and there is further provideda regulation of the position of the axis of the roller din relation to that of roller 4. The method of adjustment is best shown in Fig. 10a, where it will be noted that the element It is positioned eccentrically in respect to the element I31), so that rotation of the elements it and I3?) will change the relative positions of the rollers 4 and 5. For example, the axis l3 of the sleeve Hi is eccentric so that by rotation by a fraction of a turn of the said'sleeve, displacement of the axis of the roller 5' is effected, this latter taking the position shown in dotted lines in Figure 10, the point of pressure passing thus from B to B. For slow speed of movement of the fabric t6, the parallelism of the axes may be maintained, so that the point of contact B is in theplane of the axis of articulation.3, and thus the oscillation of the apparatus may take place with the highest degree of smoothness. The further the rollers converge towards their free extremities, the further is the maximum point of pressure B removed from the plane of the axis 3 and the ,more is the exercised braking effect accentuated. The regulation of the apparatus can thus be eifected with great precision.

stopped The guiding heads may be. mounted on any kind I of appropriate supports.

In the examples shown in Figures 4 and 5', each of the heads is fixed by its support I, and bymeans of a bolt .36, on a carrier orrunner ll, slidably mounted in a runway orguide rail 22. Inside the rail 22* is, arrangeda bar 23 with opposite hand screw threads 24, 25, on which are engaged tapped lugs 26, 21, the distance of separation of the latter being regulated by means of a handwheel 28 keyed on the end of the bar 23. After traversing of a set of levers and rods. With this arrange-' the two guiding heads, the fabric passes around a roller 3! and is then introduced into the machine for treatment.

The apparatus can equally well be mounted with a connection between the two guiding heads ment, the pivoting of one of the heads around its axis causes the pivoting of the other head in the opposite direction.

In certain uses of the machine it is essential to obtain a very precise guiding effect, that is to say, that the selvedges must be introduced into 'the machine with a very strict parallelism, re-' gardless of the width of the fabric. To attain this, instead of placing the two heads A A at regulatable points of separation their space is diminished, so that each of them reaches and even passes the horizontal position v(Fig. 9). At this moment the selvedges L, L will permanently attain the extreme limit point of their penetration' between the forks i9, 20 and the selvedges will remain quite parallel. If, the fabric It should widen, its excess of width would be pushed towards the axis of the machine without destroying the parallelism of the selvedges.

There can be added to the apparatus a braking movement supplementary to the oscillatory movement, this braking arrangement functioning pneumatically, hydraulically or in any other manner.

In the example shown in Figure 11 this braking arrangement consists of a bellows 29, of rubber or other suitable material, one of the end plates 30 of which is connected by a rod 3.! ofv the counterweight 7 Whilst the other end plate 32 isattached by a rod 33 to a lateral projection l of the fixed support I. At each oscillation of the pivoting roller-carrying system and as a result of the counterweight 1, the membrane which-constitutes the bellows 29 is compressed and then extended. At the moment of compression the air contained in the bellows is forced out through an opening 36 which is in communication with an orifice the section of which is regulatable by means of a cone (needle) screw 35. On extension of the membrane, air is drawn into the interior through the said orifice. As will be understood, the bellows could be replaced by a cylinder in which a piston might slide, or by any other arrangement producing a braking effect.

In the modification according to Figs. 12 and 13, the rollers 4 and 6 are each preferably composed of two or more cylindrical sections placed end to end, each of these sections being independently rotatable so that, the occasion arising, they can have different speeds imparted to them. In'

- of the sections shouldpreferably be placed in the plane of the axis of pivoting at 3, as seen in the drawings Figure 2.

Upon the frame 2, the pivoting movement of which is limited by stops, solid with the support I, one of these stops being seen at l8, there are fixed a pivoting rod, or feeler 9, having a return spring It or a counterweight, and a fixed rod H adjustably mounted in a slot 38. In normal position the feeler 9 occupies the highest position; the engaging portion of the feeler and the rod H are not in the same plane but have a crossed position. The selvedge of the fabric which selvedge before being put astride upon the rods 9 and I I forms a straight line takes the form of an 8 after having been engaged, as seen in broken lines in Figure 12. It will be evident that by the tractive effort exerted by the fabric IE on the feeler 9, the latter will be drawn to its lower position nearer to the bar I I. In this position there is still a space between the two members 9 and II, due to the fact that the extent of movement of the feeler 9 is limited by the stop screw ILbut the S formed by the selvedge will be more pronounced.

' To summarize the operation of the device of the present application, the fabric is designed to 'move vertically downwardlybetween the rollers however, there will be a substantial friction cretion, as shown in Figure 1, against the action of ated by passage of the fabric between the prongs of the fork i9 and 20, which. friction will tend to counterbalance the action of the weight I with the result that the device will assume some position of equilibrium.

In Figure 6, it will be noted that the devices A and A are still turned or inclined slightly downwardly in the direction of movement of the fabric with the result that there will be a slight tractive force, as indicated by the short transverse arrows. Usually only one adjustment need be made of the position of the rollers A and A at thebeginning of operation and thereafter the action of the weight and the friction created between the forks I9 and 20 will --automatically adjust the Howeven-the rollers A and A might be posi- 'tioned. further away or closer together than is shown in Figure 6, the latter condition being shown in Figure 9.

When the rollers A and A have been set in the position of Figure 6, and the, fabric is displaced laterally toward the left causing further penetration of the selvedge L between the forks I9 and 20, the friction will increase on the device A and the rollers A will, advance to a higher posithe weight 1.

As this occurs, the tractive effect upon the selvedge L will decrease until it becomes zero.

At the same time, however, the fabric will pull its selvedge L out of the forks of the head piece A and as a result, the rollers or head piece A will incline further downwardly in the direction of movement, increasing the pulling effect upon the selvedge L. This is best shown in Figure 7.

Thus it is apparent that the position of the is fabric will automatically be adjusted, or controlled to return td'the normal set position, as illustrated in Fie 6.

In Figure 8, as shown, the position in which the lateral deviation of the selvedge L is indicated, is

even greater than in Figure 7 in which the rollers or head A will be inclined toward the direction of movement with the result that there will be an actual repulsion exerted upon the selvedge edge, as indicated by the short arrow at the left of Figure 3. p p

In Figure 9, where the rollers or heads A and A are set more closely together causing the fabrics to penetrate further between the forks l9 and 2d, a repulsion force will be exerted on both selvedges L and L toward the center .of the fabric,

I claim:

l. A guide mechanism for a travelling web comprising a pair of guide heads having a frame pivoted to swing freely on an axis transverse to the direction of travel of said web, adjustably disposed adjacent opposite selvedge edges and normally inclined towards the direction of travel, a pair of rollers in each of said frames disposed against each other for engagement with the respective edges of the web, fabric engaging means carried by said frame and spaced from said rollers for imparting a progressively increas ing undulating course to the web as it is displaced laterally towards the respective guide .head and whereby theirictional edect is increased at said guide headnnd decreased at the other end, said means being so arranged that the friction is substantially equal at both edges of the web and at a minimum when the web travels in the normal course, adjustment means for controlling the position of said frame and said rollers so that they may be positioned transverse to the direction of movement of the fabric when the seivedges are to be maintained in their normal predetermined position and inclined toward the direction of movement of the fabric when the selvedges are moved inwardly from said predetermined position and away from the direction of movement of the fabric when the selvedgesare moved outwardly from saidpredetermined position, balancing means for normally maintaining said arias-2c frame in a state of equilibrium andmounted on said guide head .so as to counteractthe eii'ect of said increased friction, whereby a lateral displacement oi the web towards one guide head and the consequent increase in friction will cause the respective frame to swing gradually and smoothly with the travel and whereby the consequent decreased friction at theother guide head will cause I shaped element being curved and arranged in sucha manner that in projection on a plane perpendicular to that of the travelling web they curve toward one another and in projection on 'a plane parallel to that of the travelling web they diverge from each other from their common point of attachment.

3. A guide mechanism according to claim 1,

in which at least one of the two rollers has a slightly convex peripheral surface, and means for displacing the axis of said roller relative to the other during the course oi the travel of the web whereby the point of maximum pressure of the rollers upon the fabric may be varied, according to the speed of the travelling web.

4. A guide mechanism according to claim 1- whichinciudes means for braking the swinging motion of said frames, said means being interposed between said frame and the stationary portion of said guide head.

5. A guide mechanism according to claim 1, which includes. means for braking the swinging motion of said frames, said means comprising a resilient bellows interposed betwen the balancing means and the stationary portion of the guide head and means carried by said bellows for controlling its expansion and compression."

6. A guide mechanism according to claim 1.

l in which said frame is provided with a fixed rod and a movably mounted rod. I

- JULIEN DUNGLER 

